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I was talking with a friend recently about my hopes for my next CD project, as well as the reality of the situation. Although I have written enough material and pulled together the necessary elements to make it a quality effort, I am still lacking the monetary part. After numerous budget-crunching sessions, the money that I will need to complete it as I wish is just not a practical thing. But why, why is it so expensive to record a simple CD? My friend commented that in the mid-70’s Atlantic Records budgeted only $60,000 for his band’s first TWO albums! Not one, but two albums. They recorded in an extremely nice studio, had access to nearly anyone to work on the project and had lots of time to finish it. Just for the record, so to speak, both of these two albums went on to be big hits with one going gold in only three months and the other one eventually going platinum. I’d say that this was a pretty good return for a very small investment. My question is still the same though, why does it cost so much to record a CD today?
If anything I would think that it would be cheaper to record a CD these days. With all of the advances in technology and equipment, recording in a modern studio is a dream compared to the studios of the past decades. Hard drives have replaced analog tape, futuristic software has replaced tons of hardware, and the ability to work via the Internet have all streamlined the process. Pitch correction alone must save millions of studio hours per year! Yet the cost still goes up and out the window for most independent artists. Now I know that lots of people will say that it’s just the way things go and if I correct that $60,000 to reflect nearly four decades of inflation that I will get a huge number, and I agree. But it still pisses me off and I am bound to find a way around it. Since neither Sony nor EMI are beating down my door to give me money for my CD, I will have to be creative.
First, I have talked to everyone that I know and have pulled in favors to get quality studio musicians for next to nothing. Don’t misunderstand me though; this wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Over the past years, I have done favors for these same people that have ranged from free website design to free roadie services right on to helping with their favorite charities. I guess that you could consider this bartering and it definitely works. If all goes to plan, I should have a star-studded lineup on my project. Next, I plan to utilize the power of my laptop and the Internet to reduce in-studio costs. With some simple multi-track recording software, that I downloaded for free, I plan to record my rough guitar and vocal parts for use by everyone else in the project. Once I have everything in MP3 format, I can simply email the tracks to everyone and let them use these to work on their individual parts. This should save me a day or so of studio time and costs. With the basics in place, I plan to record my basic tracks in the studio of another friend that owes me a favor and will hopefully cut me a deal on some studio time. Once the songs are recorded and saved onto a removable hard drive, I’m off to my next step. Since most of the people that I am working with have home studios, I can either ship them the hard drive to plug into their gear or send them the digital files to work from. The thought is that if most of the players can record their parts in a home studio and then return the hard drive back to me, then there is no need to bring them into the studio and spend extra money. There again, between the telephone and the Internet, I can participate in these sessions almost as though I was there. Once we have all of the individual parts recorded to the hard drive, I can take it into a studio and work on the mix. Hopefully this doesn’t take a tremendous amount of time, but since I will have used very little studio time thus far, I might be able to afford the cost of mixing. An outside studio will do the mastering and I can’t find a way to avoid that cost. So to sum it all up, I think that I might have found a way to record a quality CD without spending a lot of money that I don’t have. Although there will still be production and replication costs, the money that I save during the recording process should help out. If everything goes to plan, I should be able to finish my project and not be forced to work three jobs or sell my car.
So, as I have shown, there are many ways for independent artists to complete their next CD without taking out a second mortgage or selling their soul. Every band or artist knows other musicians or people in the industry and should use these connections to get started. Don’t be shy, this is how business works every day. You just have to be creative and figure a way around the hard costs. The end will justify the means and you will be proud that you worked your way through the rough parts. Besides, when you’re done, you can tell Sony and EMI to kiss your ass, you don’t need them. Unless, they are talking about distribution and that is a whole different ball of wax!
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